D.M Rowell - Media

Praise for Silent Are The Dead

"Silent Are the Dead is the story of one Kiowa storyteller lovingly told by another."
—J.A. Jance New York Times bestselling author of Blessing of the Lost Girls

"Mud Sawpole is a favorite new amateur sleuth of our times. A mixed-race member of the Kiowa tribe, Mud is a perfect guide to navigate readers through the connection California urban Indians have with tribal lands in the Midwest. The specificity in D.M. Rowell’s work shines light on little-known historical facts, such as the Osage massacre of the Kiowa in the 19th century. The fresh contemporary take on the Plains Indians brings the past alive, deepening knowledge of and empathy for the writer’s people."
—Naomi Hirahara Edgar and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of the Mas Arai mysteriesand the best-selling Japantown mysteries

"A thrilling and character-driven mystery, Silent Are the Dead is D.M. Rowell’s best yet. Mud Sawpole makes for a memorable protagonist that readers will not soon forget, and Rowell’s novel mixes Kiowa culture and a razor-sharp, riveting plot to create a worthy installment in the Mud Sawpole series. I was hooked from page one."
—Alex Segura bestselling author of Secret Identity and Alter Ego

"Once again, D.M. Rowell joins Tony Hillerman as a great writer of top mysteries . . . If Killers of the Flower Moon caught your fancy, you won’t want to miss this one!"
—Eric Redman author of the ITW Finalist Bones of Hilo and Death in Hilo

"I love what Rowell is doing with her Mud Sawpole Mysteries. Mud is a hero with a foot in two worlds, trying to reconcile her mixed heritage and her absence from home with her calling to be a storyteller for her tribe. The breakneck plotting in Silent Are the Dead involving stolen artifacts and illegal fracking combined with Kiowa culture and traditions makes it hard to put this book down. I can’t wait for Mud’s next adventure."
—Joshua Moehling author of And There He Kept Her and Where the Dead Sleep

Praise for Never Name The Dead

"Never Name the Dead weaves a tale of timely Native issues like fracking and poverty with a breathless mystery."
- Buzzfeed

"[A] debut wrapped in Kiowa history, stories, and culture . . . Recommended for readers of David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s Winter Counts."
- Library Journal

“Rowell’s Never Name the Dead is an impressive debut, charting a woman’s return from Silicon Valley to her roots, the Kiowa tribal land in Oklahoma, where she finds a divided tribe, land threatened by fracking, and her own grandfather missing and possibly framed for a crime she knows he didn’t commit. The novel then becomes a detective story with a deep sense of place and history. Rowell brings notes of poetry to the dark tale of corruption."
- CrimeReads

"Never Name the Dead may join the ranks of Native American books along the veins of Tony Hillerman and Anne Hillerman's Leaphorn/Chee mysteries"
- Midwest Book Review

"Greed and murder face off against the power of traditional Native American wisdom and rituals in a gripping tale set in Oklahoma on a reservation fighting to preserve the Kiowa culture and way of life. Mystical and magical, D. M. Rowell’s debut novel puts her in the ranks of Tony Hillerman, with a resolute female sleuth whose name is Mud but whose vision, purified with sacred smoke, is crystal clear."
- Eric Redman award-nominated author of Bones of Hilo

"Oil frackers and regalia looters meet their match in Mae "Mud" Sawpole, a Silicon Valley exec and former college softball slugger who returns to her Kiowa homeland in Oklahoma to settle the score."
- Kris Lackey author of the Maytubby-Bond series

"A well done debut novel that I couldn't put down, literally … NNTD is outstanding, deep, fast paced, complex, unputdownable."
- KD

... a mind-boggling showcase of all that's right in the genre, full of mystery, excitement, and plot twists that took me by surprise time and time again"
- David Sanchez

"This was a novel that I could not put down."
- Pratiksha Yalakkishettar.

"... a murder mystery and an exploration of Kiowa Indian culture and history. This fast paced novel hits the ground running and I was gripped by every page. … The writing is excellent, the plotting well done, and the characters are superbly drawn. It was a pleasure to read. Highly recommend."
- Linda Schearer

Praise for Silent Are the Dead

Praise for Silent Are The Dead

Praise for Never Name The Dead

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